Update from the land of Church Planting…

Faithful readers… both of you! The past year has been an amazing journey. We have left the security of a good job with an established church to raise support and begin a new work. God has provided for our needs in amazing ways. We have added two new members to our family as our adoption of two brothers through the foster care system was completed in July. We have rented out our old house and moved to a new house in the community where we are starting the new church. As I write this, I am, quite honestly, both exhausted and refreshed, exhilerated and terrified, and depressed and enthusiastic about the future! In other words, welcome to the bi-polar life of a Jesus follower!

As for the church plant, we are gathering on Sundays with a group that averages about 35-40 people. All but one of the families who are regularly a part of our group are people that we did not even know a year ago. Many of them had already left churches that had abandoned the Bible before they had heard about Cross Hill. Many had not been involved in a meaningful way with ANY church as adults. While my planning included a lot of thinking about training leaders and launching people into ministry, I have had to adjust to meet the needs of people who are super eager to learn, but are starting out with very little knowledge of the Bible. Honestly, it is amazingly encouraging to see people reading the Bible in a way that a starving man attacks an all-you-can-eat buffet!

Here is the upside. This Sunday we will see four adults dedicate their lives to follow Jesus in baptism. We have another group of people that will likely want to be baptized by the end of the year. We have people reading the Bible and asking awesome questions. Many of our people are inviting friends, talking about the changes in their life that Jesus has brought, and “doing the work of evangelism” without me having to say much of anything about it! Week after week, as we meet for a pretty “no-frills” Bible study, I see the Spirit of God at work in peoples’ lives in confronting their sin, reconciling them to God, and in helping them to find healing and wholeness in their lives. Even after over an hour of teaching, people stay and hang out over coffee — despite many of them coming from traditions where a 50 minute gathering is “pushing it.” Despite stepping out without even a salary guaranteed, God has stirred people to provide for our needs, often without even being solicited! Praise God!

Here’s the hard part. We have seen difficult spiritual opposition in discouragement and depression among some of our family and core team. Marriages have been strained at times by this spiritual oppression. Establishing patterns and routines has been extremely difficult with the amount of change that is taking place. We are rapidly approaching the need to deal with structural and organizational issues that lie WAY outside of my comfort zones! With the new people come new problems that tax our energy and our emotions as we walk with people through dark valleys to find their healing in the Gospel. One of my most common thoughts is “Who is sufficient for these things?”

Here’s the bottom line. Jesus Christ will build HIS church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it! I am NOT sufficient for these things! Thankfully, God gives us his grace, ill-deserved kindnesses, so that through the power of his Holy Spirit people might be reconciled to God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!